Chapter 16 - Why Marian kept me
Police reopened the original abduction investigation with modern evidence.
Deborah was dead.
Marian was dead.
Criminal prosecution had limits.
But investigators still reconstructed conduct.
Another letter in Marian’s box gave the missing piece.
Marian had attempted to persuade Deborah to return me.
Deborah threatened suicide.
Marian believed her.
For approximately two days, they kept me in Marian’s apartment while arguing.
Then Deborah disappeared.
She left a note:
You wanted responsibility. Now you have it.
Marian panicked.
She should have called police.
She did not.
Why?
Her later journal explained.
Fear.
She had already concealed the baby for two days.
She believed police would think she participated from the beginning.
She worried I would be placed into foster care during the investigation.
She worried Deborah would kill herself if found.
Then each day of silence made the next day harder.
A week became a month.
A month became a year.
Marian moved.
Created the Laura Monroe story.
Obtained a delayed birth certificate using affidavits that investigators now believed contained false information.
Then raised me.
No profit.
No ransom.
No attempt to extort the Ashfords.
May you like
Love after wrongdoing.
Still wrongdoing.
